Workers celebrate relocation of Halifax's Morris House

Halifax’s historic Morris House is settling into its new home, and the people who made the move happen are today celebrating the piece of history they have preserved.

Many of the workers only got a few hours of sleep on the weekend, as they spent the better part of two days moving the house from the south end to its new home in the north end.

The house began its trek early Saturday, moving from Hollis Street to the corner of Charles and Creighton – a 4.5 kilometre trip that took 34 hours to complete.

“It was a little bit nerve-wracking at times,” says Linda Forbes of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia.

It cost the organization $30,000 to pay the movers to move the home, which weighs more than 72,000 kilograms.

“The house is very heavy and they had to reinforce their equipment at the last minute,” says Forbes.

Hundreds of wires also had to be moved as part of the process to move the 249-year-old home.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen, or probably ever will see again, a move that involved the amount of man power involved, and the amount of conductors and wires that had to move to allow the house to pass,” says Blair Burgoyne of Nova Scotia Power.

While the home is in place, it remains on wheels. The next step is to place it on a foundation, which has been donated along with many other things, including thousands of hours of man power.

After that, Morris House will be renovated and turned into affordable housing for young people. If all goes as planned, people could be living in the home by next fall.

“Young people that have had problems getting into this tight housing market that we have in Halifax now with rents that are increasingly out of their reach,” says Carol Charlebois of Metro Non-Profit Housing.

The move has also been a learning experience for students who attend school across from the home, including Grade 4 student Kendra Gannon.

“I’m happy that it didn’t break down because there’s lots of history with it, and if it was gone, then all the history would be gone with it.”